Rough Theory

Theory In The Rough

Monthly Archives: March 2007

Ontology Interests [Updated x2]

Leave a Comment Posted by N Pepperell on March 31, 2007

For those who have been curious about L Magee’s project, particularly if you’ve had a look and are still wondering what it is all about, I note that an introduction has been now posted over at schematique. Armed with the new information this introduction provides, I logged in to have a play, and am currently [...]

Interdisciplinary, Links, Methodology, Reading Group

Copping the End

3 Comments Posted by N Pepperell on March 30, 2007

I was having a conversation with a friend earlier today, when discussion turned to the ways in which anger and frustration could transmit themselves through individuals within an institutional context – discussing examples of situations in which someone high up in an institutional structure could direct anger downward to someone who would then re-direct it [...]

Critical Theory, Overheard, Psychology

Huis Clos

3 Comments Posted by N Pepperell on March 29, 2007

orange. continues to hold this blog’s methodology slam title, offering a new interpretation of what’s really going on, for all who have been confused by L Magee’s ontology-matching experiment: orange. suggests that it’s later than we think. What LM has been calling a “pre-alpha” software development phase is no such thing: in reality, the software [...]

Interdisciplinary, Links, Methodology, Reading Group

The Reason of Total Myth

1 Comment Posted by N Pepperell on March 29, 2007

I suspect this counts as one of the stranger backchannel communications to float around the reading group – from an email this evening that is, apparently, an invitation to our discussion tomorrow of The Positivist Dispute in German Sociology: Dear Theodore and Jürgen, 12.30 it is. I’m hungry already. Karl – Jürgen has agreed to [...]

Reading Group

Beta Blocker

23 Comments Posted by N Pepperell on March 26, 2007

I know that L Magee has been working very hard recently on the development and debugging of the ontology matching software that will provide the empirical data for a dissertation on the Semantic Web. Being the kind, considerate friend that I am, and wanting to ensure that LM stays always in a state of good [...]

Links, Methodology, Reading Group

Socratic Methods

5 Comments Posted by N Pepperell on March 26, 2007

A colleague just observed one of my discussion sessions, and walked away expressing some surprise at my technique – specifically: “It’s very… Socratic…” The pause makes me somewhat unsure whether this was meant as a compliment, or more an expression of dismay… ;-P

Teaching

The Ourglass

Leave a Comment Posted by N Pepperell on March 23, 2007

I mentioned the other day that L Magee and G Gollings foolishly allowed themselves to be tempted by a lunch invitation, little knowing that this would entrap them in a four-hour discussion of how I can best carve a thesis out of a life project. While this discussion was very much in the spirit of [...]

Critical Theory, Negations, Philosophy of History

Neverquest

4 Comments Posted by N Pepperell on March 23, 2007

I’ve been having an interesting email discussion on the issue of how to teach students to do efficient and productive searches for academic literature in online databases. The discussion doesn’t relate to teaching the technical mechanics, but to teaching the conceptual strategies that underlie searching: we’re trying to respond to situations in which students will [...]

Teaching

Appearances Can’t Be Deceiving

Leave a Comment Posted by N Pepperell on March 22, 2007

Since I have no time at the moment to write on Hegel (but evidently have time to comment, when someone else writes a good post on his work), I wanted to point readers over to Larval Subjects, where Sinthome has posted a very nice reflection on among other things, Hegel’s attempt to move beyond the [...]

Conversations, Critical Theory, Philosophy of History

Taking Note

3 Comments Posted by N Pepperell on March 21, 2007

I was just sitting down to look over the notes produced during an intensive discussion today with the ever-generous G Gollings and L Magee (more on this in a bit), when my son wandered over to have a look. I learned today, among other things, that L Magee and I have a similar style for [...]

Family, Reading Group

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